


Carry

by pyromanicofthesea



Series: A Pridecember Winter Wonderland [9]
Category: Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters (Anime & Manga)
Genre: Gaming, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-09
Updated: 2020-12-09
Packaged: 2021-03-10 18:27:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 868
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28061655
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pyromanicofthesea/pseuds/pyromanicofthesea
Summary: A new game launches at midnight, but not every At-Launch player is a good one.
Relationships: Atem/Kaiba Seto
Series: A Pridecember Winter Wonderland [9]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2055513
Comments: 3
Kudos: 5





	Carry

The wait was a horrendous form of anticipation torture. The new game launched at midnight. It would take approximately forty-seven minutes to download once it dropped, and after that only the first ten thousand players would be permitted entry. Something about keeping servers online or something. Neither men actually looked or cared. The important part was to be one of the first ten thousand players so they could play the game at launch instead of in the morning.

Atem and Kaiba had stayed up all night waiting for the game to drop. They sat side by side, their chairs without armrests specifically so that they could lean against each other during the slow points in games, controllers in hand ready for their consoles to be given the download notice. The mansion internet was fast, as fast as money like Kaiba's could buy, so there was no fear of slow connection screwing up what should be an easy snatch.

Atem had arrived earlier that day, console and needed cables in hand, ready to kill time waiting for the game's release. He and Kaiba spent the day dueling, making dinner, playing other computer games, waiting for the hours to tick by until midnight.

The download notification pinged. Both men looked at each other and grinned. The race began.

"I swear your friends better be decent at this game, I'm sick of being stuck on teams with arrogant shot-callers and incompetent DPS!" Kaiba wasn't actually meaning to yell _at_ Atem, and Atem knew that since he, too, was sick and tired of the unfortunate team composition the public queues kept handing out.

"Let's take a break, maybe players with an actual sense of teamwork and composition will be online later," Atem suggested. He didn't put down his controller though. He didn't actually want to keep playing, but a bad match pattern was a bad match pattern.

"No, let's go again," Kaiba insisted, grip tight on his controller. "I can carry if I have to."

Atem gave him a look, because if anything _he_ was the one carrying, but he loaded up into another queue with Kaiba. Maybe this time would be different.

It became quickly evident that this time would not be any different.

"Atem, keep the barrier spells on me, this team is useless," Kaiba growled, curled up around his controller and hammering away on the trigger buttons. His avatar swung the enchanted sword Kaiba chose to wield, only stumbling backwards when the boss creature made a swipe with its tail.

"You'll get your barriers in a second, the spells have to recharge," Atem snapped back as his avatar launched a devastating fireball at the breakable weapon spikes on the beast's swinging tail. The fireball erupted into multiple smaller fireballs, dealing additional damage to the creature, but extra damage from one of eight players could only help so much.

"Atem."

"I know!" Atem cast the barrier onto Kaiba as soon as the spell recharged, and Kaiba launched a flurry of combination attacks while the barrier kept him invincible to damage. Atem set up a healing spot, but only two other players took advantage of it despite everyone in need of healing. Two of the players who didn't come to heal died and the instance clock continued to tick down.

He mashed combinations as Kaiba's avatar rolled to dodge. The boss bar was low, but another player died and Atem worried they weren't doing enough damage to take the creature down before the clock reached zero.

Kaiba launched another combination set of attacks, and Atem covered him with the barrier again just in time.

"Kill the damn thing!"

"I'm trying!"

"Kill the damn thing!"

"I just did!"

"Kill the damn thing!" Atem yelled for the third time, just for his own amusement as the end of instance screen played. He tumbled backwards as Kaiba shoved him, laughter filling the air in the early hours of the morning. "Oh come on! You can't be mad at me for that. You laughed. You're still laughing!"

"I'm laughing because you're a fool," Kaiba said, laughter still in his voice and the hint of a smile on his lips.

"Yeah but I'm your fool," Atem said with a wide grin as he sat back up. He received another shove for that corny line, and his laughter joined Kaiba's as he fell over. He propped himself up on his elbows and looked directly at Kaiba. "Careful-"

"Don't you dare say it."

"I think I just might-"

"Atem."

"Be falling for you!"

Kaiba fell back with a loud groan, pretending to be physically pained by Atem's jokes. "That was awful. Why did I bring you back?"

"Because," Atem said as he crawled over and laid across Kaiba's front, "you're falling for me too."

Atem wore the biggest grin as Kaiba carded his fingers through Atem's hair. A comfortable silence fell between the two as Atem began to nod off, his head on Kaiba's chest feeling that the man beneath him was truly the most comfortable pillow. Kaiba smiled to himself as he felt Atem's breath steady. He whispered as to not wake Atem, but the words felt necessary to say aloud. "I'm fairly certain I already have."

**Author's Note:**

> Ooc? Probably. Short? Yeah, sorry. My favorite so far? Just might be tbh.  
> Loosely inspired by rants I've overheard involving FFXIV, Dauntless, and Overwatch.
> 
> Thanks for reading!!


End file.
